Now I Know
by Gilana1
Summary: [Missing Scenes Part Three] After Yuuri's comments after announcing his theme on live television, Viktor has a lot of thinking to do. One-shot. Scene expansion of the end of Episode 5.


**A/n:** This should be the last of the short ones. The rest in the series should be longer than this. Thanks to my betas/prereadaers - Mae_Cruz, Lady Eve and skyla2010star.

 **Now I Know**

Viktor stared at the television, the smile still on his face as Yuuri stepped aside for the next skater. Granted, it was all in Japanese. He did speak _some_ , but his language skills were basic or conversational. He wasn't fluent by any stretch, and the press conference had been a bit too fast for him to understand. Of course, he had already known Yuuri's theme for the year - "love" - so hearing that word over and over again wasn't surprising.

However, what had been surprising was how passionately Yuuri was speaking, and hearing his; hename said more than once along with the word love in the same sentence. Another thing he noticed was that tie; he remembered it from the banquet last year. Yuuri was still wearing the same suit and tie, and honestly, it was hideous. He had said as much aloud, too. That was when he became suddenly very aware that everyone else in the room was looking at him. All of Yuuri's family and friends had turned to stare at him.

"Viktor," Minako said in English. She was sitting closest to him and turned to look at him as she spoke. "I know your Japanese is not that good, but did you _not_ understand what Yuuri just said?" Viktor stayed silent. "He just basically said that he loved you - on _live television_. I mean, he called us abstract, but that's not the part that would concern you."

Viktor was never so glad for his expert control over his emotions he was at that moment. He wasn't sure what he would have done if he hadn't. Perhaps take a page out of Yuuri's book and run out of the room? As it was, he _did_ have good control over his emotions. Nonetheless, he immediately stood up. "No, I understood," he said, "and I meant what I said. The tie _is_ hideous, and I won't let him wear it again." With that, he turned and walked out, leaving a bunch of confused faces behind him.

As soon as he was out of their sight, Viktor took a deep breath. He headed towards his room and closed the door. He laid down on his bed, Makkachin coming to lay beside him. He took a few deep, steadying breaths. Part of me was confused as to how he should feel right now. The other part was simply elated, and he couldn't stop from feeling at least part of that emotion.

 _Yuuri said that he loved me on_ live television, he thought to himself. That certainly explained the looks of shock from his family and friends. Viktor was a bit ashamed that his Japanese was still so novice that he couldn't pick out enough from what Yuuri had said to hear that himself. Instead, he had needed to hear it from Minako. _It doesn't matter. He loves you, and he just told the entire country that._

Viktor wished that it was that simple, but the last few months had proved otherwise. He had come here with certain expectations and had gotten his heart broken for a _second_ time because of it. Now, at least he knew that all his efforts hadn't been completely in vain. He had figured out fairly soon that Yuuri was not the same person as he had been that night. It had been glaringly obvious upon his arrival that the fun, drunk guy at the party was a far cry from the shy, awkward man he had been dealing with. That was fine with him, he wanted him either way.

However, the problem was that the shy guy hadn't seemed to want anything to do with him. That day at the beach, they had made headway. Yuuri had allowed him to be a lot more affectionate towards him, though they hadn't made the kind of progress that he would have liked. That was fine, too. At least it was progress, and now… Minako's words kept echoing in his brain. _He said he loved you on live television._

Where was he going to go from here?

Yuuri loved him. He loved Yuuri, but nothing that happened between them was simple. Viktor knew that if he pushed too hard, there was a good chance that Yuuri would distance himself even more. That was what he didn't want if anything was ever going to happen between them. So, what _did_ he do?

Taking one more deep breath to settle his emotions, Viktor knew what he had to do. Exactly what he had been doing since that day at the beach. He had to continue the gentle nudges. Yuuri was already confident enough to announce it on live television, but their level of comfort with one another was still a bit low. If Viktor wanted anything to happen, he had to continue on Yuuri's terms. That was the only thing that he could do.

Yuuri had levels of issues that Viktor had come to recognize. His anxiety had caused him to build walls around himself, that the Russian was still trying to work through. That was fine. Yuuri was worth it, and at least now, he _knew._ He knew how Yuuri felt. That caused a smile to come to his face. Yes, he could tell that Yuuri was attracted to him. He could tell that his slight affections - and they were slight at this point - weren't unwarranted, but knowing that Yuuri loved him was an entirely different matter.

Now, Viktor _knew,_ and he knew where to go from here.


End file.
